Ximena Bustillo (BS, political science and government, 2020) covers politics for National Public Radio. She was an agriculture reporter for Politico and reported for the Idaho Statesman, The Washington Times and KIVI-TV. A True Blue Scholarship recipient, she wrote and edited for the student newspaper, The Arbiter, while at Boise State.
“If it wasn’t for the hands-on experience I had at The Arbiter, I wouldn’t be in journalism right now,” Bustillo said.
In 2022, she and fellow former Idaho Statesman reporter Nicole Foy launched the Voces Internship of Idaho that provides paid internships in local newsrooms for Idaho Hispanic/Latinx students.
“The goal is simple: It’s to get more Latinos into Idaho newsrooms,” Bustillo said. “You know your community best and you want to be in the best position to tell the story in your community.”
The program, funded by crowd-sourced donations and the Scripps Howard Foundation, received the endorsement of the Idaho Press Club and placed its first interns at Idaho news organizations in summer 2022.